2 charged after 3-hour standoff

LUMBERTON — A teenager is among two men who have been charged following a three-hour standoff Sunday morning that followed what lawmen are saying was a gang-related shooting that injured a teenager.

One of the accused, Gregory Meadows, 21, of 28 Milan Ave., is in the county jail under a $1 million bond. He is charged with six counts of assault with a deadly weapon on a government official and possession of firearm by a felon, according to sheriff’s Maj. Howard Branch.

Montrell Jackson, 17, of 31 Milan Ave., is charged with assault with a deadly weapon inflicting serious injury and damage to personal property. He was jailed under a $250,000 secured bond.

Branch said Jackson was the gunman in what he called a gang-related shooting during which multiple shots were fired at about 10 p.m. on Saturday at One Stop Gas and Grill at 4410 Alamac Road. According to Branch, a 15-year-old girl who was a bystander was struck in the back by a stray bullet but was not seriously injured. The girl was with her mother, who was putting gasoline in a vehicle.

“There was confrontation between some people in two different vehicles,” Branch said. “Jackson somehow had disrespected the people in the other vehicle, disrespected their gang, sometime prior to this shooting.”

Branch said an investigation led lawmen to a mobile home at 31 Milan Ave. off Long Branch Drive. He said that as six lawmen arrived, Meadows fired multiple shots at them before he and Jackson retreated inside the home along with six other people.

“Our SWAT team responded … and residents in the area where evacuated from the surrounding mobile homes,” Branch said. “Numerous attempts were made via the PA system in our vehicle to attempt to get the people in the residence to come out … .”

Branch said the three-hour standoff ended shortly after 4 a.m. Sunday when lawmen used tear gas to flush out the people from the home.

According to jail records, Meadows’ criminal history includes drug charges, disorderly conduct and trespassing. Jackson has been jailed for disorderly conduct and trespassing.

Detective Butch Howell, the lead investigator in the case, said the injured teenager, whose name was not released, was treated at Southeastern Regional Medical Center. She was recovering at home on Monday.

“She was released Sunday morning,” Howell said. “They did remove a bullet.”